


the penalty for falling in love

by yearningdream



Series: i dont know anything about high school football [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Football, Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, no beta we die like me in bio, theres very light angst idk if i should even tag it, yes the title is a pun that no one will notice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29664696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yearningdream/pseuds/yearningdream
Summary: It’s more difficult than you’d think, being in love with your teammate. Especially when said teammate is Karl Jacobs, of all people.or alternatively: the high school football friends to lovers karlnap content you didnt know you needed.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs & Sapnap, Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Series: i dont know anything about high school football [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2187213
Comments: 33
Kudos: 286





	the penalty for falling in love

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO KARLNAP FANS!! LETS KISS!! /p
> 
> i am back with random karlnap i wrote during bio uhm i have Not edited this whatsoever so if theres typos... ignore them
> 
> i should clarify i have no actually useful knowledge of football, any terminology that is used is literally so scuffed and um i asked my friends to play football and they said it made sense so if you play football irl please ignore any football inaccuracies this is gay fanfic anyways 
> 
> for those of you like me, who do not know anything about football the only notable reference i made was uh "to run down a ball" which basically means make an attempt to score a touchdown i think other than that you're good to go <3

It’s more difficult than you’d think, being in love with your teammate. Especially when said teammate is Karl Jacobs, of all people. Karl Jacobs who’ll convince his friends to buy the team donuts as a treat. Karl Jacobs who never complains about the workout, even it’s brutal. Karl Jacobs whose smile manages to make any losing game at least a little bit better. 

The team had won an important game, leading them straight past qualifiers. Sapnap had relished the way his heartbeat roared in his ears as he scored the final touchdown. It was a blur after that, a wave he’d ridden till they were in the change room and Dream was treating everyone to pizza, and really, how could he say no to that?

“You’re coming, right?” George had asked as he pulled his jersey over his head. “You have to.” George stuffed his jersey into his duffel bag and wrinkled his nose. “Jesus, I stink.”

George knew Sapnap was coming. Sometimes, George just talked for the sake of talking. “What if I don’t come?” Sapnap mocked. There was no point in this back and forth. George was trying to get Sapnap to talk about something and Sapnap was refusing to talk about it. 

“Whatever, man.” George said, taking out his contacts and slipping on white-rimmed glasses. “I’m gonna hit the showers before we go.”

Sapnap didn’t say anything, but he sure noticed the pointed look George gave him as Karl walked in, his hair wet and mussed, a towel around his waist. He smiled at Karl when the former waved at him, pulling clothes out of a faded blue gym locker. He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “You coming to get pizza?” He asked as he walked out of the room.

Karl shrugged, his shoulders still damp from his shower. “It’s free pizza.” And that was that. 

That was twenty minutes ago. 

Now Sapnap is staring at the tattered menu at Pizza Palace musing over which kind of pizza would piss Dream off the most if he ordered. And Dream won’t shut up.

“And then, and then George literally--Sapnap are you listening--” Dream pokes him on the arm a few times, and continues talking, “--he literally says ‘noot noot’ and it’s just the funniest thing in the entire world…” Dream trails off, noticing Sapnap’s unimpressed look. “What?”

“Dude. I promise you, no one found that funny.”

“No, you’re just dumb.” Dream huffs. 

“No, no, I’m right,” Sapnap turns his head, trying to find someone who’ll agree, and calls out to Quackity, who stands on the opposite end of the diner, stealing napkins, or something. “Quackity! Wasn’t Dream’s story not funny?”

“Oh, yeah, totally,” Quackity yells back, “there were absolutely NO askers.” From all around the diner, random teammates whoop.

Sapnap turns back to Dream. “I don’t know how you can come back from that, man.” Dream sputters as George walks back, pizza on a paper plate. 

“It was funny,” He pouts, and George smiles sweetly. Sapnap chooses to ignore how Dream’s face almost instantaneously morphs into the picture of absolute happiness. That was George’s problem.

Karl snickers beside him. 

Sapnap leans his face on his hand and grins at Karl. “I am so much more funny than Dream.”

Karl raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know, kinda looked like the credit belonged to Quackity.” Sapnap gasps in mock horror. Dream whoops and high fives Karl.

“He’s not helping _you._ ” 

Dream shrugs. “It’s better than nothing.” 

“Karl, my dearest Karl, how could you?” Sapnap says overdramatically. “I thought you were my friend.” 

Karl bumps his shoulder into Sapnap’s, grinning. “You’re so dumb.”

In front of them, George, who has been uncharacteristically quiet, makes obnoxious kissy sounds. Sapnap groans, and Karl protests loudly, and they move on to some other conversation topic. 

Sapnap doesn’t think much of it, not until he catches sight of Karl’s profile in the tacky light inside the pizza shop. His breath catches, just slightly, at the smile of the boy sitting beside him in that stupid purple hoodie he wears everywhere. He’s laughing, Karl’s laughing, and Sapnap doesn’t want to think about the fact that he wants to be the person that makes him laugh like that. 

George had confronted him about it, a few days ago. “Dude, I think you’re into Karl.”

“You’re stupid. You know I’m straight.”

“Do you even know that?”

“Just drop it, okay?” Sapnap had snapped, irritated.

“Hey man, _you_ ’re the one who called me at like, four a.m, three weeks ago because you were panicking about the fact you might also like guys.” The biggest mistake of Sapnap’s life, clearly.

“Yeah, because I was expecting, I don’t know, support.”

“Support for _what?_ ” George had spat. “Do you want me to convince you you’re not into guys?”

Sapnap didn’t say anything.

“There’s nothing wrong with being bisexual, Sapnap.” George said softly. “But I can’t be the person to figure out your sexuality for you. Hell, I’m not the right person to ask, at all.”

Sapnap ran his hand through his hair frustratedly. “It’d be easier if you could figure it out for me.” he said half-heartedly. 

George had smiled knowingly then. He smiles the same way in the booth of the shop, a dab of pizza sauce on his upper lip. 

Sapnap doesn’t meet George’s knowing gaze. He hates when George is right. 

  
  


Sapnap has good grades. Yeah, he goes out, and yeah, he’ll complain about school like every other high schooler, but he’s an honour student for a reason. And that reason is studying. Studying for as long as it takes for him to keep his grades up. Sapnap knows, deep-down, his parents don’t see football as anything more than a hobby. They’ll make him quit if his grades drop. 

So he does what it takes to score well in every subject. Slaves away on essays, studies in the spaces of time he has in between practice and school and whatever else he gets distracted by. 

He’s used to the quiet in the early hours of the morning, a few hours past midnight. The quiet that comes when everyone else in the house is asleep, when he can hear the tick of the clock he has for decoration in his room. What he’s not used to, is the sound of Karl’s voice, jolting him awake when he starts to drift off. 

It’s a new arrangement between the two of them, where they’ll call each other while they do their homework. Karl usually finishes before Sapnap, and Sapnap hates to admit that he can pinpoint the exact moment, each time, Karl shuts his textbooks and starts to put away the pens he’s using. It’s not because he’s listening closely. (It’s definitely because he’s listening closely.)

“I’m so tired,” Karl will yawn every night. Sapnap hears the rustling of sheets as Karl lies down. 

“Go to bed then.” Sapnap will offer. Karl will just laugh.

“Nah, it’s alright.” 

He selfishly doesn’t say anything. It makes it easier to get through the work, anyways, when Karl is there filtering the mundane monotony of mole ratios with his his stupid comments. 

“Dude, Dr. Limaneberge is literally insane. I feel like every time someone asks her a question she’s gonna, like, explode,” Sapnap explains.

“Isn’t she your teacher, though? That’s her whole job.”

“Nah man, she like, doesn't want to help us after the lesson. It’s weird.” Sapnap chews on the back of his lead pencil. “Are mole ratios even important? Like, will I ever need them again?”

“The true question of high school,” Karl agrees sagely. Sapnap checks the time on his phone. 2:45 a.m. He feels a quick pang of guilt. Karl had been done by midnight. 

“I’m gonna pack up, I think.” Sapnap says, hoping Karl will take it as a sign and head to bed. There’s really no reason for him to stay up any longer. 

“Okay,” Karl agrees, “but are you actually going to bed?” 

“...Yeah? Wait, why?” 

“I have an idea.” Sapnap hears ruffling and a loud thump. 

“Are you okay?” He laughs. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. But listen, listen.” Sapnap can hear Karl getting closer to his phone, his voice goes from muffled to a bit louder to right in Sapnap’s ear. “Let’s go somewhere.”

“Karl. It’s literally 3 a.m.” Sapnap was tired five minutes ago, wasn’t he? He glances at the mole ratio work package, almost 3/4ths of the way done. “Where are we gonna go?”

“You let _me_ worry about that. You coming or not?” 

He takes one more look at the work on his desk and plugs his earbuds into his phone. “Alright big man. Give me one second.”

More shuffling in the background. “You can take about two and a half minutes, actually.” 

Sapnap pauses his rapid clothes changing. “Why two and a half minutes?”

“Because that’s how much time it’ll take me to get to your house. Duh.” Karl lives 20 minutes away from Sapnap. 

“You already left?” 

“Yeah.” Karl breathes, laughing a little. 

“What if I had said no? You would have been standing outside of my house like a weirdo.” 

Karl laughs then, out loud. Sapnap finds himself grinning at the sound. “I knew you’d say yes.”

“How’d you know, dummy?” 

“I just knew.” Karl says softly. “Oh, look outside your window.”

Sapnap walks over to the window in his room. “Karl. I’m literally looking out at my backyard.” Karl makes a noise of confusion. 

“Wait, the window outside your house isn’t your room?” Karl groans. “Dude, I always wave if I pass by your house because there’s a chance you might be sitting by your desk. I probably looked so stupid.”

Sapnap doesn’t know why he finds that so endearing. “How did you even know my desk is in front of my window?” 

“You mentioned it once, I think. Anyways come out, idiot, it’s cold.”

Sapnap walks down the stairs as quietly as he can, carefully tiptoeing and avoiding the stairs that creak. On the last stair, he hears his mother’s voice. “Nick?” She says softly, rubbing her eyes. “Where are you going?”

“Uh, I don’t know,” It’s not a lie. She walks back into her room, and then into Sapnap’s room, and comes out with a jacket from his closet. She dangles it from the top of the stairs, waiting for him to catch it. 

“Tell the boy that waves at our house every now and then I say hi,” She says. 

“I’m allowed to go out?” Sapnap says. He’s pushing it, he knows. “You’re not mad?”

She only waves her hand. “Go before I change my mind.” He misses the soft tone in her words. If he had paid more attention, he might have realised mothers often knew more than they let on. 

Karl is bouncing up and down and rubbing his hands in the cold, breathing over them to warm them up. He’s holding a football with his arm, and he almost drops it in his bouncing. He’s wearing a stupid green frog hoodie, and the sleeves cover his hands. He looks up at the sound of Sapnap’s front door closing. 

“What took you so long?” He asks, still bouncing. 

“Sorry dude, my mom woke up and she started talking to me.” 

“Aw, yikes. Was she mad?” Karl tosses the football over to Sapnap. “You could have texted me and told me you weren’t allowed.”

“Nah, she was chill. You’re all good.” Sapnap tosses it back to Karl. “She was pretty nice about it, actually. Said to say hi to you.”

Karl waves, almost out of reflex, as they walk away from Sapnap’s house. Sapnap smiles at the gesture. 

“Cool, cool.” Karl takes his phone out of his pocket. “So, any guesses as to where we’re going?” 

Sapnap points to the football. “I mean, somewhere we can play, I guess?” 

Karl makes a sound imitating an incorrect buzzer. “Nope.” He pops the last bit of the word, and turns to face Sapnap, walking backwards. He shows his phone’s screen to Sapnap. 

“I can’t see anything on your screen, dude.” Karl fumbles with his phone, typing in the password, and turns the phone back to him enthusiastically. 

“We’re going to this bakery!” Sapnap squints to look at the screen. 

“Why are we going to this bakery at 3 in the morning? This is a terrible idea.”

“You’re so boring,” Karl turns back forward and picks up his pace. “The bakery has the best bagels ever, but the line is super long. We’re gonna get a headstart.”

“A 6 hour headstart?” Sapnap says dubiously. “When does the bakery open?”

“At 5a.m on the dot. I’m going to get those bagels if it’s the last thing I do.” 

“Okay, Mr. Karl Jacobs. Lead the way, I guess.” Sapnap catches up to Karl’s brisk pace, then pauses again. “What about school?”

“You’re such a nerd, oh my god.” Karl says teasingly. “We have a long weekend, remember? No school tomorrow.” Oh. That explained his mother’s blase attitude

“Yessssss.” Sapnap says, punching his arm in the air. He yawns. “Dude, you know I love you, but after this I’m going to pass out for like, ten hours.” Sapnap catches sight of the football still in his hands. “Wait, if we’re going to the bakery, why’d you bring a ball?”

“Don’t laugh--” he warns, and Sapnap immediately laughs, “--but literally out of habit. I was too lazy to go back into the house and put it back.”

“You’re such a Chad.” Sapnap grins.

“What, no. No, no, no,” Karl waves his hands around dramatically. “No, _you’re_ the Chad in this relationship.” 

“I thought you said I was a nerd,” Sapnap counters. “I bet you like it too.” He adds mockingly.

“...Shut up, Chad.” Karl only replies. 

Karl’s cheeks are flushed from the cold. Sapnap is sure that’s the only reason there’s colour high on his cheeks. 

The bagels are very good. Probably the best bagels Sapnap’s ever had. Karl’s expressions, when he takes his first bite of them? Sapnap thinks that’s better. They sit in the half empty parking lot of the bakery, watching the crowd disperse. The night trickeles away and the sky starts to fill with the early morning light. Sapnap turns his face up to the sun, closing his eyes and yawning, and when he opens his eyes again Karl is looking at him. 

“What?” He asks.

“No, nothing, you just looked calm, you know? At peace.” Karl fidgets with the paper bag his bagel came in nervously. “You’ve been stressed about something recently.” 

“Me? Stressed?” Sapnap leans back on his hands. “Nah man, don’t worry, I’m fine. If I was stressed, I’d tell you.”

Karl bites his lip. “You can always talk to me.”

“Yeah, I know.” Sapnap picks up the football from the floor and tosses it to Karl, who fumbles with it, then catches it. “Actually, can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“What do you, uh, what is your opinion on, uh--” and then, quietly, “the LGBTQ+ community?”

“Oh. Is that all?” Karl looks at Sapnap seriously. “I mean, they’re cool, I guess? I don’t have any opinions or anything I think they’re the same as any straight person, you know?”

“Yeah.”

Karl makes a conflicted face, then opens his mouth to speak again. “Honestly? I’ve been questioning my sexuality for a while anyways. I don’t care enough to put a label on it, but you know.”

“Oh. So, you might be into dudes?” 

“Dudes, girls, non-binary people...everyone.” 

Sapnap’s stomach does a small flip. “That’s cool. I’m glad you thought you could tell me.” Karl pushes his shoulder into Sapnap’s gently.

“You’re one of my best friends, dude.” Karl rubs his eyes. “Oh man, I’m so sleepy. Wait, also--” Karl’s far too perceptive, Sapnap knows this, “--why’d you ask?”

“Well, I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it, I guess.” Sapnap thinks his heart is going to beat out of his chest. 

Karl smiles and breathes out. He pulls his legs to his chest. “Okay.”

Sapnap gets up and offers his hand to Karl. “Let’s head back?”

Karl takes his hand. Sapnap pretends his hair doesn’t stand up at the touch. It’s cold. The tips of their fingers are red. Karl gets up and lets go of his hand, and the moment is over before it starts. 

He ignores the way they walk shoulder to shoulder all the way home. He ignores the way his hands brush Karl’s. The walk home is quiet. But it’s a comfortable kind of silence, the kind that makes Sapnap wonder how he hasn’t realised it till now. 

When Karl says goodbye to him, Sapnap thinks about saying something. He looks pretty in the early morning light, and Sapnap loses his nerve as fast as it comes. He only waves goodbye back. 

It’s three in the afternoon when Sapnap gets out of bed. He rolls his shoulders and yawns. His phone has god-knows-how-many notifications on it and he checks the battery and curses. 13%. He had forgotten to charge it before he collapsed on his bed. He plugs it into the charger and starts swiping through the notifications. 

**dreamie poo <3:** yo dude look at these two cows this is totally me and you LOOOOL

 **dreamie poo <3:** you better say yes i sent george a picture of two frogs and told him it was me and him and he left me on read

 **dreamie poo <3:** WHERE ARE YOU DID YOU DIEE

 **dreamie poo <3:** omg who killed you?? i hope they’re sexy at least

 **dreamie poo <3:** bruh its like 2p.m you haven’t woken up yet? did karl keep you up heheheh

 **dreamie poo <3:** THAT WAS A JOKE BUT APPARENTLY YOU GUYS WERE OUTSIDE TILL LIKE 5AM WHY WAS I NOT INVITED I HATE IT HERE

 **dreamie poo <3:** next time karl invites me somewhere im not bringing you hmph

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _why did you go through the five stages of grief while texting me

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _we went to get bagels from this one bakery that karl wanted to go to and wtf <///3 dude you HAVE to invite me

 **sappitus nappitus:** i’ll miss you too much <///3

Sapnap grins at Dream’s antics. 

**dreamie poo <3:** YOURE AWAKE THANK GOD

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ youre so annoying leave me alooooooooooone

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _actually wait i have to do some stuff do you wanna call instead

**[call from “dreamie poo <3”]**

“Yo.” Dream says, clearly chewing on something.

“Dude, gross. Swallow at least.” 

“Shut up.” he swallows, then continues talking. “Soooo, how was your _date_ with Karl.” Sapnap chokes on air.

“It was _not_ a date. We’re just friends.”

“Yeah, and George and I are just friends. Okay.” Dream says dubiously. Sapnap doesn’t quite understand the relationship between George and Dream, but he doesn’t interfere. They seem happy, at least. “This is stupid. You like him, so why don’t you just tell him?”

“How did you even know I liked him?” Sapnap groans, and Dream makes a noise of shock.

“I’m like, your best friend. I know all.”

“George told you.”

“George told me.”

Sapnap laughs. “Does it really matter, anyways? Whatever Karl and I have right now is fine. We play football together. We call sometimes.”

“Yeah, but it could be better. What are you even afraid of? That he doesn’t like you back?”

Sapnap has probably thought about that. Once. Twice. “That and, I don’t know. Karl is fun to be around. I don’t want that to change just cause I like, I don’t know, I have a crush on him.” 

“Karl isn’t like that, and we both know that.”

“Not everyone is like you and George, okay?” Sapnap snaps. “We can’t just fuck each other and be best friends and whatever.”

“Dude, calm down. You didn’t have to bring George into this.”

Sapnap just sets his jaw angrily. He doesn’t know why he’s angry. He breathes in and forces himself to calm down. “I think we should talk later.” Dream doesn’t argue. He just hangs up. 

Sapnap wants to bang his head against something. He didn’t have to take his frustrations out on Dream and he knows it. He just slumps and starts looking through the rest of his notifications. A few stupid videos from Quackity, and 4 texts from Karl. (Plus the 24 messages from George, but he was going to ignore them.)

He sends a few memes back to Quackity, and his thumb hovers over Karl’s messages. 

**karl (chad):** yesterday was fun you’re probably asleep but i had a lot of fun we should hang out more lmfao

 **karl (chad):** i was looking through the pictures i took and you looked high in this one LOOOL

 **karl (chad):** [one image attachment]

 **karl (chad):** okay i feel bad for that but still it’s a decent picture

Karl isn’t wrong. Sapnap looks high in the picture, his eyes red from lack of sleep. Karl, on the other hand, looks perfectly bright and cheery. (In hindsight, Sapnap might have been biased.)

_**sappitus nappitus:**_ delete that rn 

_**sappitus nappitus:** _i had fun too btw 

**karl (chad):** :0 you’re awake!! 

_**sappitus nappitus:**_ i have already fucked up five things since waking up how is your morning going

 **karl (chad):** pretty good so sucks to be you

 **karl (chad):** do you wanna talk about it or something??

 ** _sappitus nappitus:_** nah not really

 **karl (chad):** oh

 **karl (chad):** well then do u want a distraction

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ that sounds sus

 ** _sappitus nappitus:_ **what kind of distraction

 **karl (chad):** its no fun if i tell you the surprise!!

 **karl (chad):** its snowing outside tho so wear a coat so we don’t freeze like yesterday

 **sappitus nappitus:** what are you, my mom? yeah ill wear a coat lol

 **karl (chad):** you wish i was as sexy as your mom

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _seek help

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ it gets worse the longer i look at it

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ oh god does this mean my mom is a milf

 **karl (chad):** HAHAHKJHSJAHLKJAHKJAHA I HATE YOU

 **karl (chad):** oh my god ill never be able to look her in the eyes again

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ you caused this this is your fault

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ wait when are you going to be here

 **karl (chad):** uhhh like ten minutes? my mom says i have to do something real quick before i can leave

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ alright

Is it fair of Sapnap to be excited for what’s a distraction when he’s the one who fucked everything up between him and Dream? He considers sending a text saying sorry, but overthinks it and just stuffs his phone back in his pocket. He slips on a jacket, still snickering over Karl’s texts, and pokes his head into the kitchen to tell his mom he was leaving the house. 

“Mom, I’m heading out for a bit.”

She turns around from the kitchen counter and purses her lips. “How long were you even out last night?” 

“Not that long.” He lies. “Karl and I went to that bakery, you know the new one? You should have seen the line, it was insane.” Something about Karl’s name makes his mother’s eyes soften.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Karl recently.” She points out.

“He’s cool.” Sapnap shrugs.

“Hmm.” Sapnap turns to leave, when his mother adds. “Tell Karl I said hi, will you?” 

“Sure, mom.” 

**karl (chad):** hurrrryyyy upppppp lets gooooooooooo

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ okay okay chill you big baby

 **karl (chad):** i am NOT a big baby youre a big baby

 **karl (chad):** i retyped that so many times it doesnt look like real words anymore

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _you’re so dumb

Karl always looks good. He dresses well, overdramatically shouting “fit check!” when he likes his outfit. It’s nothing different. Nothing has changed. But Sapnap’s heart skips a beat when he comes out of his house. The weather is warmer, but Karl is still dressed in layers, football crewnecks over a collared shirt. Sapnap shouldn’t find it endearing how his collar sticks up just slightly. (He does anyways.) He thinks about fixing it, and immediately pushes the thought out of his brain.

_Calm down, weirdo._

“Well then, Mr. Jacobs, where are we going today?” Sapnap grins. “I believe I was promised a distraction.” 

Karl throws up a football and catches it. “We’re gonna play football. Duh.” 

Sapnap throws his hands in the air. “Well, the last time you brought a football you took me to a bakery. What was I supposed to think?” 

“It’s not my fault you’re dumb.” Karl shrugs.

Sapnap crosses his arms and pouts. “This isn’t a very good distraction. We play football, like every day.”

“And yet you still suck at it.” Karl starts running from Sapnap, who starts chasing him. 

“I hate you,” Sapnap pants when they finally stop, “I hate you so much.”

Karl just laughs, continuing to walk towards the field nearby. The beginning of football season is Sapnap’s favourite time of year, when spring is in full swing and everyday the weather just gets warmer. Karl is sort of like springtime, Sapnap thinks, bright and bloomy and--he smacks himself on both cheeks, which earns him a strange look from Karl, who chooses not to comment. 

Karl then stops in his tracks. “Actually,” he begins abruptly, “I don’t actually want to play football. I don’t even know why I thought of football.”

“Dude. You’re a disaster. We’re already at the field.”

“I know,” Karl puts his face in his hands, “but I’m like? So weirdly restless?” Karl chucks the football to the ground with far more force than necessary. Sapnap startles. Karl turns to Sapnap, fixing him with a piercing gaze. “Do you ever feel like you’re moving along, and you’re going with the flow of things and you’re just not going anywhere?”

Sapnap did know the feeling. Sapnap knows it all too well. 

“I know what you mean.” He says, sitting down cross legged on the grass, which is still damp. “Like no matter what you do you’re never exactly where you want to be with something.”

Karl sighs. “There’s something I want to tell someone, so much it practically hurts me, you know? I just feel like I’m being dishonest with them.”

“Oh.” Where is this going. “Dishonest about what?”

“Well, I’m kind of in love with someone.” Karl laughs dryly. “And I talk to them all the time, and I think about them all the time and everytime we see each other I feel like I’m lying to their face.”

“Oh.” Sapnap is sort of at a loss for words. “Well, whoever this mystery girl is--”

Karl clears his throat. “Uh, it’s, it’s a guy, actually.” Sapnap doesn’t say anything for a beat too long, his mouth hanging open in surprise. He can see Karl’s eyes narrow in..fear? Disappointment? He can’t tell. 

“No, no that’s cool, I was, uh, just surprised.” Karl’s face softens. Sapnap wants to breathe a sigh of relief. He ignores the fact that this revelation makes him angry. No, not angry, more..envious. 

“Yeah.” 

“You know, I kinda get you. There’s this person I can’t stop thinking about either.” Sapnap lays back on his hands, shielding his eyes from the sun with his arm. 

“Yeah?” Karl breathes. He’s still sitting up, and Sapnap can feel his gaze on him. “Maybe you should do something about it.” 

“Maybe I will.” Sapnap only says, looking at Karl. 

“Tell me when you do,” Karl says bitterly, “maybe I’ll work up the courage too.”

“What if I did it right now?” Sapnap says suddenly. Does Karl see what he’s talking about? Does Karl know that he wants to take a chance?

Sapnap is confused, hopelessly confused but he wants to--he wants. He wants to do something about the restless feeling Karl talked about. It’s the restless feeling during a game, when he knows he needs to complete a play to win. It’s the restless feeling during timeouts when he’s trying to get everything under control. 

“What, now? In front of me?” Karl looks panicked. “Dude, I don’t think I want to see that.” Oh. So he didn’t know. Or rather, he didn’t reciprocate, so Sapnap wasn’t even a possibility. 

“You’re right, you’re right, I’ll do it later.” Sapnap tries to add mirth to his voice. He pushes off the ground and tries to smile. “Would you look at the time! My mom said I had to be home by now, sorry, man.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah, don’t worry.” Karl laughs nervously. “I actually--I’m going to go see Jimmy later today anyways so I should get going.” 

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

Karl doesn’t ask Sapnap to stay a little while longer, not like he usually does. They both know they’re making excuses for each other. 

Karl doesn’t seem to know why, though.

The walk home is nothing like the walk to the football field. Sapnap slumps the entire way home, speedwalking, though, in hopes of reaching faster. He checks his phone and isn’t entirely surprised when he has no texts. _Wonderful. I managed to piss off every single one of my friends._

He runs his hands through his hair, frustrated. He needs Dream. 

_**sappitus nappitus:**_ dude im sorry

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ i was stupid and i know you dont have to forgive me just like that

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ but i need your help

Dream sees the message almost right away.

**dreamie poo <3:** dont worry about it

 **dreamie poo <3:** we’re all good

 **dreamie poo <3:** what happened?

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ oh thank god

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ im in love with karl

 **dreamie poo <3:** i knew i should have ignored your text notif

 **dreamie poo <3:** OF FUCKING COURSE YOURE IN LOVE WITH KARL

 **dreamie poo <3:** THATS WHAT I TRIED TO TELL YOU

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _i know i know im sorry but shut up

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ i think we have a problem

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ karl doesnt like me

 **dreamie poo <3:** dude i love you and id totally fuck you if i wasnt in love with someone else but what the fuck

 **dreamie poo <3:** karl is very obviously in love with you

Sapnap chooses (for his mental health) to ignore the first text’s double meaning.

_**sappitus nappitus:**_ aw dude id fuck you too <3 

_**sappitus nappitus:**_ but yeah no he’s not

 **dreamie poo <3:** literally what made you think that

Sapnap types the entire thing into one long paragraph, not bothering to look over it for typos. 

_**sappitus nappitus:** _so yeah he doesn’t like me lol

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _its just gonna be hard to get over him i see him like, everyday for practice

 **dreamie poo <3:** and conditioning

 **dreamie poo <3:** honestly tho? idek what to say this all has very mixed vibes

 **dreamie poo <3:** you know who would know what to do?

 **sappitus nappitus:** george?

 **dreamie poo <3:** george

 **dreamie poo <3:** you know me so well

**the dream team [Insert multiple flame and eggplant emojis. Don’t ask.]**

**dreamie poo <3:** GEORGIE

 **dreamie poo <3:** GEORGE

 **dreamie poo <3:** GEORGEEEE

 **dreamie poo <3:** GEORGEEE

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _GEORGE

 **george who is shorter than me:** if one of you types my name in this group chat one more time ill kill you

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ GEORGE

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ oh

 **george who is shorter than me:** i hate you

 **george who is shorter than me:** but yeah what

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _im in love with karl

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _and karl doesnt like me

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _[Screenshot of the previous conversation between Dream and Sapnap]

 **george who is shorter than me:** .

 **george who is shorter than me:** you are both so stupid . god bless

 **george who is shorter than me:** im literally gonna punch you when i see you

 **george who is shorter than me:** just trust me when i say karl is very much interested in you

 **dreamie poo <3:** WHY AM I BEING PUNCHED <//3

 **george who is shorter than me:** YOURE JUST AS OBLIVIOUS AS HE IS

 **dreamie poo <3:** ???? OBLIVIOUS ABOUT WHAT

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _are yall about to hate fuck? in the gc?

 **dreamie poo <3:** SHUT UP SAPNAP

 **george who is shorter than me:** SHUT UP SAPNAP

 **george who is shorter than me:** anyways

 **george who is shorter than me:** i think that karl just doesnt realise youre into him bc its too far fetched of an idea to him

 **george who is shorter than me:** you need to do something crazy to get his attention

 **dreamie poo <3:** this feels like a netflix rom com i wont lie my money is still on #communication

 **george who is shorter than me:** you understand nothing about love and romance and shit so shut up

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _oooh the boyfriends are fighting

 **dreamie poo <3:** not boyfriends

Sapnap rolls his eyes. 

**dreamie poo <3:** okay fine whatever we’ll go with george’s idea

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ hmm a big gesture

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ OH I HAVE AN IDEA

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _if dream can run the ball uhhhh like six times during the game

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _ill kiss karl after the game

 **dreamie poo <3:** i make more runs than that during practice too wtf </3

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ im trying to make the odds as low as possible LOL

 **george who is shorter than me:** kinda fucked youre relying on dream to further YOUR love life

 **george who is shorter than me:** esp when we both know there’s a one in 1.75 trillion chance of him making even one touchdown

 _ **sappitus nappitus:**_ GOTTEM

 **dreamie poo <3:** i hate this group chat

 **dreamie poo <3:** going dark no one hmu

 **george who is shorter than me:** but still i feel like thats a bad idea

 **george who is shorter than me:** how about if we win the game? its something to celebrate at least LMAO

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _okay okay 

_**sappitus nappitus:**_ sounds like a plan

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _karl jacobs is gonna be romanced

 _ **sappitus nappitus:** _also please figure out your love problems im tired of the tension

He adds the last text as an afterthought.

**george who is shorter than me:** i knew the niceness came at a cost

 **george who is shorter than me:** fuck you

Sapnap grins. Dream and George were stupid, sure, but they had good ideas sometimes too. He begins to plan out the exact way he’d do it, how he’d kiss Karl right after the game to make it clear to him--and the entire school, he supposes-- that he had feelings for him. 

He tests his theories and plans in the groupchat, sometimes warranting excited thumbs ups and sometimes receiving a lot (he means a lot) of disapproval. The plan would go off without a cinch. 

Until he stands on the playing field, minutes before the game, making panicked eye contact with Dream as they both come to the realization that they missed out on one very important detail--the fact that football players, in fact, wear helmets. Which messes up Sapnap's entire plan. But the minutes before a game are far too few and fleeting, and thus he has to push aside the disappointment of not being able to finish his plan.

They win easily, the school they play against missing it’s seniors.

“They ditched us for exams and shit,” One junior from the other school says, dismayed. 

The win was a little easy, but it didn't stop them from whooping and cheering when Sapnap scored the final touchdown. He raced back to the middle of the field, where the whole team gathered together in a big, sweaty pile of limbs. He ignored the bittersweet feeling the team cheer left on his lips, his hand piled on top of Karl’s. He had imagined the entire thing to go down a different route entirely. 

When he walks back to the locker rooms, thankful it was a home game, Dream and George walk up beside him and bump his shoulders gently. “So much for big gestures,” Dream mumbles, and George hums in agreement. 

“I could have kissed him anyways.” Sapnap admits. “I’m still kind of scared, if I’m being honest.”

“There’ll be other chances,” George offers, and Sapnap decides to take it. There’s time. There’s always time. 

Sapnap is so involved in his moping, he doesn’t notice the group of people coming together behind him as he walks inside. “You there!” A loud sound coming from a megaphone makes him jump (literally). “Yes, you, the handsome man in the jersey and bandanna.” Sapnap pauses. 

He turns around. And behind him, stands Karl, his helmet tucked between his arm, his other hand holding a megaphone. Beside him, his friends (Sapnap vaguely places them as Jimmy, Chris and...Chandler? Something like that.) stand holding large pieces of bright orange bristol board. 

Sapnap points to himself in question. “Me?” He yells out.

“Yes you, you nimrod!” Karl says into the megaphone. “You’re pretty dumb, huh?” Sapnap reddens, and more students turn around, catching sight of the commotion. 

Karl continues. “I tried to tell you something on like, fifteen different occasions but you’re super oblivious. So I went to the dollar store and bought more bristol board than I actually needed.”

Beside him, George snorts, amused.

“And I got a couple of my friends, like the ones standing beside you, yes, Dream and George themselves,” Sapnap turns to his friends incredulously, as they grin and look back at Karl. “and I wrote the message for you in big black block letters.”

One by one, the three friends turn the bristol boards around and look down at them, only to realise they’re standing in the wrong order. Karl smacks his forehead and puts up a finger to tell him to wait. The crowd giggles. Sapnap finds it so endearing it hurts. 

“Okay,” He yells exasperatedly into the megaphone, wincing at the feedback. “If you read the message out loud you’ll realise what I;ve been hinting at for like, two months.”

_Go out with me?_

It’s all very dramatic. Sapnap puts his face in his hands, realising what a big deal they’ve made for nothing at all. When they both liked each other all along.

“You’re so dumb.” Sapnap grins, and Karl smiles back.

“Is that a yes?” Karl says, walking up to him. 

Someone in the crowd yells at him to “just kiss Karl already” and Sapnap flips them off.

“Yes, it’s a yes.” Sapnap says, and before he can think about it, Karl’s hands are on his face and his lips are on his. 

The crowd cheers, and Dream and George hoot and holler. He supposes he _has_ experienced the epic highs and lows of high school football. 

**Author's Note:**

> WOO HOO for those of you who are wondering when ill update desire the answer is.. ahem who knows
> 
> however i am in deep karlnap brainrot so maybe expect more of this if i continue to not pay attention in bio hehe
> 
> also idk if im like,,,doing the longer version of it but why the heck does it take so long to format texting on ao3?? it took forever omg
> 
> mcyt fandom yall are so scary pls dont kill me <3
> 
> edit: i made a [twitter](https://twitter.com/yearningdream)!! (again)


End file.
